South America, South Carolina, What's The Diff?

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford went on a nice week-long vacation to Buenos Aires from his recent troubles, which is fine...he's a state employee after all.

Only he didn't tell his wife or pretty much anyone where he went, and his staff lied and said he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. The family man vanished for week over Father's Day weekend, and didn't even tell his family where he had gone. It was a "last minute" thing.

Sanford's whereabouts had been unknown since Thursday, and the mystery surrounding his absence fueled speculation about where he had been and who's in charge in his absence. His emergence Wednesday ended the mystery.

Sanford, in an exclusive interview with The State, said he decided at the last minute to go to the South American country to recharge after a difficult legislative session in which he battled with lawmakers over how to spend federal stimulus money.

Sanford said he had considered hiking on the Appalachian Trail, an activity he said he has enjoyed since he was a high school student.

"But I said 'no' I wanted to do something exotic," Sanford said "... It's a great city."

You know, I'm thinking that's a silly, silly thing to lie about, and the whole thing is about as fishy as an Atlantic City mermaid convention.

[UPDATE 10:33 AM] TPM is reporting Sanford will hold a press conference at 2 PM. Odds of his wife being at his side after he, you know, ditched her and didn't tell her he was in Argentina for a week? Not real good I'm thinking...then again, it's possible the entire Sanford family will be there. If that's so, then things are about to get Jon & Kate interesting.